Table Of Content

English Intonation Intonation — the rise and fall of pitch in our voices — plays a crucial role in how we express meaning. This accessible introduction shows the student how to recognize and reproduce the intonation patterns of English, providing clear explana- tions of what they mean and how they are used. It looks in particular at three key functions of intonation — to express our attitude, to structure our messages to one another, and to focus attention on particular parts of what we are saying. An invaluable guide to how English intonation works, it is com- plete with extensive exercises, drills and practice material, encouraging students to produce and understand the intonation patterns for themselves. The accompanying CD contains a wealth of spoken examples, clearly demonstrating English intonation in context. Drawing on the perspectives of both language teaching and linguistics, this textbook will be wel- comed by both leamers of English and beginning undergrad- uates in phonetics and linguistics. J. c. WELLS is Professor of Phonetics at University College, London. He has lectured in countries all over the world and makes regular appearances on BBC Radio and TV. He is author of the three-volume set Accents of English (Cambridge University Press, 1982). English Intonation An introduction J . C . W E L L S Professor of Phonetics, U CL CAMBRIDGE 5;UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521683807 © J. C. Wells 2006 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2006 Fourth printing 2009 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library ISBN-13 978-0-521-86524-1 hardback ISBN-l3 978-0-521-68380-7 paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel timetables and other factual information given in this work are correct at the time of first printing but Cambridge University Press does not guarantee the accuracy of such information thereafter. Contents Preface ix 1 Introduction 1.1 What is intonation? 1.2 Prosodic features 1.3 Is English a tone language? 1.4 The three Ts: tone, tonicity, tonality O\-P~U~J>—'P" 1.5 The functions of intonation ll 1.6 Intonation in EFL: transfer and interference 12 2 Tone: going up and going down 15 Fall, rise and fall-rise 15 2.1 Falling and non-falling tones 15 2.2 Falls 17 2.3 Rises 21 2.4 Fal1—rises 23 25 Statements 2.5 The definitive fall 25 2.6 The implicational fall—rise 27 2.7 More about the implicational fall—rise 30 2.8 Declarative questions 36 2.9 Uptalk 37 2.10 Yes, no and elliptical answers 38 2.1 1 Independent rises 41 Questions 42 42 2.12 Wh questions 2.13 Yes—no questions 45 2.14 Tag questions 48 2.15 Independent elliptical questions 52 2.16 Checking 54 Other sentence types 59 2.17 Exclamations 59 2.18 Commands 61 2.19 Interjections and greetings 64 Sequences of tones 69 2.20 Leading and trailing tones 69 2.21 Topic and comment 72 COIlI€I'l[S 2.22 Open and closed lists Adverbials 2.23 Fall plus rise 2.24 2.25 Tone concord Tone meanings 2.26 Generalized meanings of different tones 2.27 Checklist of tone meanings Tonicity: where does the nucleus go? Basic principles On a stressed syllable 3.1 On or near the last word 3.2 Content words and function words 3.3 Compounds 3.4 Double-stressed compounds 3.5 The old and the new Information status 3.6 3.7 Synonyms Prospective and implied givenness 3.8 Focus Broad and narrow focus 3.9 3.10 Contrastive focus 3.1] Pronouns and demonstratives 3.12 Reflexive, reciprocal and indefinite pronouns Contrastive focus overrides other factors 3.13 Contrastive focus on polarity or tense 3.14 Dynamic focus 3.15 Nucleus on a function word Narrow focus: yes—no answers and tags 3.16 Prepositions 3.17 Wh + to be 3.18 Other function words that attract the nucleus 3.19 150 Final, but not nuclear Empty words and pro-forms 3.20 3.21 Vocatives Reporting clauses 3.22 Adverbs of time and place 3.23 Other unfocused adverbs and adverbials 3.24 Phrasal verbs 3.25 Verb plus adverbial particle 3.26 Verb plus prepositional particle Adverb or preposition? 3.27 Separated particles 3.28 170 Nucleus on the last noun Final verbs and adjectives 3.29 Events 3.30 Contents Accenting old material 177 3.31 Reusing the other speaker’s words 177 3.32 Reusing your own words I78 What is known? 180 3.33 Knowledge: shared, common and imputed 180 3.34 Difficult cases of tonicity 184 Tonality: chunking, or division into IPs 4 187 Signalling the structure 187 4.1 4.2 Choosing the size of the chunks 191 4.3 Chunking and grammar 193 Vocatives and imprecations 4.4 195 Adverbials 196 4.5 Heavy noun phrases 198 4.6 Topics 199 4.7 Defining and non-defining 4.8 202 4.9 Parallel structures 204 4.10 Tag questions 205 Beyond the three Ts S 207 Prenuclear patterns 207 5.1 The anatomy of the prenuclear part of the IP 207 5.2 Simple heads 208 5.3 Complex heads 212 214 5.4 Preheads 216 Finer distinctions of tone 5.5 Varieties of fall 216 5.6 Varieties of fall—rise 219 5.7 Varieties of rise 222 5.8 Prenuclear and nuclear tone meaning 225 228 Non-nuclear accenting 5.9 Lexical stress and downgrading 228 230 5.10 Two or more lexical stresses 5..l 1 The focus domain 233 5.12 235 Major and minor focus Unimportant words at the beginning 5.13 236 Onset on a function word 237 5.14 240 Further considerations 240 5.15 Stylization 243 5. 16 Key Putting it all together 6 246 246 6.1 Describing an intonation pattern: the oral examination 248 6.2 Analysing spoken material 6.3 Passages for analysis 250 viii contents 6.3.1 Towels 6.3.2 Getting breakfast 6.3.3 Books 6.3.4 Comwall Appendix: notation A1 The intonation symbols used in this book A2 Comparison with other notation systems A3 The ToBI system Key to exercises 263 References 271 Index 274 Preface This book is written from a descriptive-linguistic and language-teaching perspec- tive. It is intended both for native speakers and for learners of English at university level. My aim is to help the reader to recognize and reproduce the important intonation pattems of English and to understand what they mean and how they are used. The emphasis is on conversational English. My debt to my teachers J. D. O’Connor and Michael Halliday will be evi- dent. Among more recent writers on intonation I would particularly mention Paul Tench, to whom I owe the idea of devoting a separate chapter to each of the three Ts. My other main sources are listed in the References. I have benefited from many discussions over the years with my colleagues Michael Ashby, Patricia Ashby, Jill House and John Maidment. Email discussions on the Supras list were stimulating, particularly the input from Tamikazu Date. Mercedes Cabrera offered useful comments on a draft version. Thanks to all. Thanks, too, to those whose voices are heard, along with my own, on the accompanying CD: Michael Ashby, Patricia Ashby, Jill House, Alison Keable, Josette Lesser, Jane Setter and Matt Youens. And thanks to Masaki Taniguchi for help with proofreading.